Cross-linked Molecules and Aging in Skin, Arteries, and Other Tissues IV

Skin is a visible organ which suffers cross-linking damage. However, unlike other tissues, skin is exposed to considerable ultraviolet light (UV) energy from sunlight. Ultraviolet light is a major cause of skin cross-linking. This type of damage can be prevented or retarded by staying out of sunlight or using sun-block preparations containing esters of PABA […]

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Cross-linked Molecules and Aging in Skin, Arteries, and Other Tissues V

As we mentioned earlier, some nutrients effective to a degree in slowing cross-linking include cysteine (a sulfur-containing amino acid, which helps maintain sulfur in proteins in the reduced state); vitamins A, B-1, B-5, B-6, C, E; the mineral selenium; and other antioxidants. Removal of calcium and heavy metals from collagen by chelating agents may be […]

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Cross-linked Molecules and Aging in Skin, Arteries, and Other Tissues II

As you grow older, your body becomes stiffer, less elastic, and less agile. This is due to cross-linking at a molecular level. You become stiffer for the same reason that old rubber becomes brittle and stiff—your large structural molecules such as collagen (an important protein in connective tissues) are welded together by cross-links. This process […]

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Aging and the Immune System III

Selenium, a mineral, is an important trace element in immune system function. It has been found in experimental animals to act as an anti-carcinogen and anti-mutagen (can prevent DNA mutations—undesired alterations of your DNA master blueprint in the presence of some mutagenic agents). Selenium is an essential part of your enzyme called glutathione peroxidase, which […]

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Aging and the Immune System II

One of the most important factors leading to immune system decline is the greatly reduced rate of release of growth hormone by the brain as we age. This hormone, produced by the pituitary gland, begins to fall off in quantity after your teens. Since the thymus gland requires growth hormone to function properly, this decrease […]

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Aging and the Immune System I

… just as the pigment of the hair is destroyed by phagocytes, so also the atrophy of other organs of the body, in old age, is very frequently due to the action of devouring cells which I have called macrophages. —Elie Metchnikoff, The Prolongation of Life (1908) Instead of preventing diseases only by protecting the […]

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Molecules of Life and Life Extension: An Introduction to the Cast I

… all diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured, not excepting that of old age, and our lives lengthened at pleasure even beyond the antediluvian standard. —Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to English chemist Joseph Priestley The same molecules that serve us well by keeping us alive and healthy can, if they fail […]

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The Synthetic Versus Natural Controversy II

“A vitamin C is a vitamin C is a vitamin C.” A synthetic (made by a chemical factory) molecule of vitamin C is exactly the same as a natural (made by a plant’s biochemical factory) molecule of vitamin C. It is argued that there may be nutritional cofactors (some possibly unidentified) accompanying natural vitamins. It […]

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